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Pakistan refuses to side with Maldives on emergency

Karachi, February 11
Pakistan’s prime minister has told the visiting foreign minister of Maldives that Islamabad had no intention to side with Maldives president’s move to impose emergency, a media report said on Saturday citing an official source.
Maldives foreign minister Mohamed Asim, who is visiting as a special envoy of President Abdulla Yameen, was also told that Pakistan would not interfere in the country’s “domestic matters despite its opposition to the ongoing state of
emergency”.
“Our government is vocal about condemning the proclamation of emergency by former dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf in 2007 in Pakistan…How can we support the proclamation of emergency in Maldives where the Supreme Court is also bearing the brunt?,” The Express Tribune newspaper quoted an aide of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as saying.
Abbasi had said on Friday that Pakistan “firmly adheres to the policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries and will continue to adhere to the principles of the UN charter in this regard”, the Pakistani newspaper reported. Maldives has reached out to “friendly countries” to garner support after the recent proclamation of emergency by Yameen.
The daily quoted a source as saying that the visiting minister invited Abbasi to visit the Maldives but he “politely” refused, saying it was not suitable to visit the country in the present circumstances since such a step would be tantamount to supporting the emergency rule.
Yameen announced a 15-day emergency on Monday and arrested the Supreme Court’s top two judges and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Yameen’s move came in the wake of a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court on February 1 to “release” exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed and other high-profile prisoners.